The accuracy of the thickness of the semiconductor substrate of semiconductor devices is important for various devices. Especially vertical semiconductor devices for high voltages may be sensitive to variations of the thickness of the semiconductor substrate. In particular with IGBTs (insulated gate bipolar transistor) such an exact thinning is very important to enable a reproducible electrical performance. For example, robustness against destruction by short-circuit current may very sensibly depend (e.g. for peak-shaped field stop zones) on the distance between the back-side emitter and the first field stop peak (seen from the back side), or with Gaussian field stop profiles on the electrically active field stop dosage remaining after thinning.